Does the name Magic: The Gathering ring a bell to you? I think it might. It\'s the name that coincided with a new breed of tabletop gaming over fifteen years ago. The collectible (or trading) card game concept has seen a lot of variation over the years, with just as many licenses used to sell them, and maybe you\'ve even watched or played some of them, but Wizards of the Coast\'s Magic is where it all began.

And fifteen years later, Magic still has a strong following. In a game where players take turns playing cards from their hands to build up a small but effective force of fantasy creatures, strategy, cunning, and some luck all come together to provide a surprisingly deep yet fast paced experience more often than not.

By now, you\'re probably thinking that this little history and overview stub is nice and all but you opened up this review to read about an Xbox game, so why haven\'t I mentioned the game yet? Simple.

The card game is the Xbox game.

The developers may like you to think that there is some kind of important story being told within the game, and as much as I would like to say that it follows in the footsteps of a Tolkien-esque epic, there really is little story to go by. Your existence as a Planeswalker is briefly explained, and some vague notion of who you are competing with is mentioned prior to each match in the campaign mode, but these things seem present merely because they\'re expected in a commercial video game release.

Fortunately for all of us, collectible card games are hardly meant to be about storyline. Instead, buying new cards to incorporate into a play deck, developing strategies to bring about victory, and learning to improvise in the heat of a match are the things that drive people to keep playing the game. Even more fortunate is that all of these things make it into the game.

For the most part, anyway.

For those of you who are like I was three days ago, completely clueless as to how a game of Magic is played, allow me to get you up to speed. The game takes place by alternating players in each round, giving them the objective of bringing the opponent\'s life down from 20 to zero. Within a round are a few basic phases. In the first phase, you draw a card from your deck and play however many cards the rules allow for in the current situation. In the second phase, the offensive player chooses which creatures in the playing field to attack the opponent with; once the offensive player has made these decisions, the defensive player can choose to block attacks with creatures of his or her own. After the end of the second phase, the player can deploy any remaining cards that the rules permit if strategy deems it a good idea.

The basic flow should sound fairly simple because it really is. However, the actual execution is far deeper than that. For instance, in the deployment phase, creatures in the player\'s hand can only be summoned into the playing field if the player has enough unused mana (the game\'s source of energy/magic) available. So, how do you go about gaining mana? During the deployment phase, you must also play so-called land cards. Each of these cards provides you with one mana point per round. Adding to the complexity is that each land has a color alignment and each creature can only be deployed if there is enough available mana of its required color or colors.

And so the complexities for the deployment phase begin. The battle phases provide their share of intricacies, too. Attacking an enemy should be easy, right? Well yes, but not all creatures are equal. A flying enemy can get right past summoned creatures and damage the opponent directly unless if a blocking creature has extended reach or is also flying. What about first strikes and double strikes? What about defenders? What about...

If I try to explain all of the complexities of the game right now, you\'ll be reading this review all day. However, there is one other thing that does deserve note right here. At nearly any point in a round, it is possible to make use of spell or enchantment cards to turn the situation in your favor even when things look incredibly bleak. Some of these cards allow you to stop all damage from taking effect for the duration of the round; other cards can heavily raise your creatures\' attack and defense levels. Some cards last for a round; other cards last the entire match. If you want to understand all of the complexities of the game\'s rules, I recommend reading up on them at the official website or just downloading the game demo and playing through its really helpful tutorial.

As complex as the game sounds, it doesn\'t take long to learn and understand the fundamentals once playing the game. Instead of being needless complications that frustrate, these intricacies provide added depth and strategy in addition to an unexpected amount of competitive intensity to a tabletop game.

But perhaps some of the words I used have caught your attention, words like "summoning," "spells," and "enchantments." My guess is that if you\'ve heard of Magic before, but have never actually seen it for yourself, it\'s because of the negative hype the game has received by concerned Christians since the game first began and understandably so.

With a name like "Magic: The Gathering," and with terms like these that naturally conjure up ideas of witchcraft (which the Bible forbids), it\'s no surprise that that Christians would call it an evil game and advise (to put it kindly) people to stay away from it. On the surface, these concerns are plenty valid even if the game is seen more as a stepping stone into practiced witchcraft than as an evil in itself. It doesn\'t help the game\'s image with people such as these that among the color magic alignments is black which makes use of undead creatures, some of which are not very pretty.

However, in my estimation, these terms are present for convention and gameplay mechanics more than to lead people to practicing witchcraft. "Summoning" is simply the term for moving a card from your hand to the playing field; "Spells" are little more than cards that can be played at any point in the game to produce immediate effects that change the tide of battle. "Enchantments" are merely lasting alterations on creature cards to make them more effective.

By no stretch of the imagination am I saying that the game is just fine for anyone to play. Whether this game (or any other) is suitable for you or your children is a decision for you and you alone to make. What I am saying is that there is legitimate room for concern, and that should be taken seriously, but the game may not be quite the great evil that some would lead you to believe on hearsay.

Then again, I think the whole discussion of the supernatural in video games would be better suited for another time and another place (though it is absolutely worth discussing in the proper contexts with the proper motives and attitudes). And since I\'ve already explained a little bit about the way that the card game mechanics work, how about we take a look at the overall game package now?

As I mentioned previously, there is little in the way of storyline going on. Then again, it\'s hardly needed. It seems to me that trying to add more plot to the game would be unnecessarily forced. Instead of a story, we\'re given a sizable campaign of over a dozen matches (each match lasting 10-30 minutes on average, but you may lose matches multiple times before finally winning) in the single-player campaign. There is also a free battle mode where you can pick one of the computer opponents to play against. And, for those of you who really want to maximize your card skills, there is a challenge mode which gives you a few cards in a very tight situation and only one turn to defeat your opponent.

But there\'s more. There are also several multiplayer modes. Local players can play a co-op variant on the campaign or join in for the co-op free battle mode. Unfortunately, there is no local competitive option (presumably because it would be impossible to keep from seeing each other\'s hands). There are, however, competitive modes for up to four players (in a free-for-all or team fashion) over Xbox Live. In my time with the online play, the experience translates pretty well. It\'s a lot of fun to play against other people, and those moments where an opponent plays an insane round have left me in awe. If you have friends to play the game with, it would get even better.

Fortunately, for a game like this with crazy amounts of clicking around, the controls are generally intuitive and the interface feels like playing a card game. Actually, it even looks like playing the card game albeit at a rather fancy table. For better or worse, that\'s where the buck stops for the visual department. The game is entirely focused on the gameplay. The cards look like cards, and the overall look is polished, but don\'t expect to be blown away by anything. This is by all means a no-frills package, and the audio/video side of the presentation reflects that. They get the job done, they even do it well, but they don\'t do much to wow you. Then again, we can\'t forget that this is a ten dollar game.

And for ten bucks, it\'s a great value. Considering that finding a starter deck of the game for $10 is the base rate, the fact that you\'re getting a vast array of cards and game modes to use them in for that price is rather appealing. However, there is one major letdown in the game\'s design.

Despite having countless cards available in the game, you cannot build your own decks from scratch. This is a significant appeal to any trading card game, and the fact that you\'re constrained to eight base decks that can only be modified by winning cards for those decks (around fifteen or so cards can be added to any given deck) is a little disappointing. It doesn\'t truly diminish from what the game is; it is just a small disappointment in light of what the game could have been.

Still, on the whole, the game is a great value. If you enjoy trading card games, then the game will give you more than your money\'s worth. It\'s a lot of fun to play, and it can be both engaging and addicting. A testament to the game\'s appeal can be seen in the fact that people have walked by as I would be playing the game only to stop and get caught up in the game\'s excitement. Who would have thought that these words could all be applied to a virtual take on a card game? I didn\'t.

Duels of the Planeswalkers is a surprising treat. If you don\'t like card games like Magic, you probably won\'t change your mind because of this game. Nevertheless, despite the no-frills approach, it is a very solid package. Because the supernatural elements are a legitimate point of concern (along with a handful of illustrations of female creatures that could be vaguely considered immodest), I can\'t give the game a strong recommendation. However, if these issues do not seem particularly bothersome to you, but you\'re still not sure if you would like the gameplay, I would advise you to try out the demo. Rarely is a demo so indicative of the full version\'s experience as it is here. If you like it, it\'s well worth your ten bucks and promises of future expansions for the game should only make it better in time.

MARVEL ULTIMATE ALLIANCE Rating: T for Teen Release Date: 2006 Systems: All major Marvel Ultimate Alliance is a game in which, according to the back of the game case, the world\'s largest army of Super Heroes is under your control. About 20 heroes are available for play, and you can interact with over 120 Marvel legends such as Galactus, Fin Fang Foom, Odin, the Vision and Wong. This is not the first time Activision has teamed up with Marvel to make a video game. X-Men Legends, Spider-Man and their sequels (to name just a few) are of the same category.

Gameplay

Since we saw him back in Marvel\'s 2005 comic-inspired super hero blockbuster Fantastic Four, Dr. Doom has been MIA in the movie and video game industry (except for the movie\'s video game counterpart). Now he’s back, and he has a plan. It’s a little confusing in some areas, but basically he wants to bump off S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage and Logistics Directorate) and all its affiliated heroes. Your job? To carry out Colonel Nick Fury’s (head of S.H.I.E.L.D.) orders--and, if you so desire, plenty of optional side quests that will (sometimes) reward you. The game is divided into only five acts, but it is satisfactorily long and quite challenging. Plenty of quests are fun and difficult (in a good way), but some obstacles are cleared through pure chance and trial and error more than anything else. What really makes this game shine, however, is the outstanding multiplayer mode. One-player mode is hysterical fun, but it is quickly overshadowed by the 2, 3, or 4 (and even Xbox Live) player cooperative play. This game is not focused on a complex fighting system. Hammering the A button lets you pummel your opponent into submission, the B button delivers a harder (but slower) chargeable, & the X button can grab an enemy (in which case you can smash, throw, or do a special move on them). The Y button lets you jump, double-jump, or even fly with some characters. This gameplay style came on as a bit under par, but it is redeemed by one thing--the special powers. Deadpool makes mayhem with his twin katana, Nick Fury shoots \'em up with his sub machinegun and sniper rifle, Spider-Man webs up the bad guys with his web shooter, and the Human Torch lets loose a fiery blast of furious flames. Sometimes the AI is not particularly smart. Normally I wouldn’t complain, but when you accidentally hit the wall and the rest of your team unleashes the full might of their powers at full blast (at the wall), you’ve got a problem. Other than that minor inconvenience, it was all right.

Graphics

The graphics in this game are hard to review. Sometimes the in-game graphics were not impressive, but the cinematics sent shivers down my spine from the realism. The graphics are not like those of the X-Men Legends series; this time the developers went for a little more life-like style. Sometimes it looked like a next-gen system, sometimes it looked like a Nintendo 64. But this game is a 2006 game, not a 1996 game, so I wish the developers had been a little more consistent. Ultimate Alliance isn’t ugly, just a tad disappointing after seeing the cinema scenes.

Sound

There’s not much to mention here except the voiceovers, but I don’t have any big complaints either. Some of the music was headache inducing heavy metal style, other types were epic, soft, and/or relaxing. The sound of the B attacks got really repetitive, but I didn’t use them much anyway. The voiceovers, however, were excellent. Professor Xavier’s voiceover was great--it sounded almost like Patrick Stewart from the X-Men movies. Deadpool’s jokes were made even funnier due to his great voiceover. Daredevil and the Silver Surfer could’ve been better, but they were okay. My only complaints were to the voices of Iceman and Spider-Man, who sounded like nerdy kids instead of tough teen heroes.

Controls

Again, there’s not really anything unique in this department. The left thumb-stick moves your character around and the right thumb-stick controls the camera view. To switch between characters in your customized team of four, you have to move the directional pad in the direction of that hero\'s face on the team diagram, which is located in the bottom left of the screen. A few glitches occurred in the controls. For example, sometimes the camera view would malfunction and I would find myself staring at a wall while being ruthlessly attacked by my fierce, merciless enemies. To combat this, I would just switch around the characters until the view was right.

Appropriateness

Violence/Gore: Bloodless, mild, not graphic This game is rated Teen for mild language and violence. It is violent enough but completely sans blood & gore. I don’t believe that any humans were killed, except in one level a couple of times. Other enemies (robots, wolves, live statues), when defeated, simply fall to the ground without suffering any mutilation or gore.

Language/Profanity:

A few mild swearwords, about like in a PG or PG-13 movie In the opening cinematic, Nick Fury shouts “What the h**l” in frustration (hit mute until you see him walking around inside his ship) and says “...did a h**luva job” towards the end (although it was barely audible). The Thing of the Fantastic Four sometimes exclaims “D**n! at random times during gameplay, but to combat this I simply didn\'t pick him to be on my team. Also, if you listen to the comical ending lines in the credits, you hear Deadpool say “I think it really s**ks” when he\'s reading his haiku.

Sensuality/Nudity:

Those familiar with comic books won’t be surprised Elektra\'s costumes (particularly the silver one) are fairly revealing in the leg and midriff areas. Ms. Marvel\'s legs are also shown. Most of the girls in the comic covers are also immodest (mainly Storm’s low-cut strapless uniform), as well are some of the load screens. Most of the heroes, both male & female, wear tight spandex costumes, but if you are familiar with Marvel’s standard comic-book style this will not offend you. Also, guys and gals fight each other equally. I just thought I\'d mention that. Spider-Man and Wolverine make a crude joke in the Shi’ar briefing that will probably fly over the heads of young players.

Occult/Spirituality:

References to and viewings of gods, a hellish level, some use of magic Asgard, a world in which you go to in the game, is the abode of many gods, which are spoken about casually through half the game. More questionable, however, is Mephisto\'s Realm. If the name doesn’t tell you enough, the fiery demon-like creatures, barely-audible background screams, and battling baddies like Mephisto and Blackheart certainly will. Some evil creatures in this level are dubbed “Demon Leapers” and “Demonic Souls”. The latter will attempt to \'possess\' you if you wait too long & don’t hammer the indicated button fast enough. This level was, however, relatively easy and short enough. Another thing worth mentioning in this category are some playable characters. Ghost Rider has some questionable powers such as Penance Stare and Damnation. Dr. Strange also uses some magical powers and items.

Conclusion

I think that this game is intended for mature kids and & preteens because of Mephisto\'s Realm (which could be scary for young gamers) and the language. The violence is not graphic but it’s still present. Activision has a reputation for making some of the best games around, and this game is no exception.

Players: 1 Platforms: Xbox, PC ESRB Rating: Teen (Language, Tobacco Reference, Violence) Cold War is a third-person stealth action game in which the player controls American journalist Matthew Carter. After receiving an anonymous tip, Carter sneaks into a Russian embassy to get a scoop on some top-secret international affairs between the Presidents of North America and Russia. When he arrives at the scene, however, Carter finds his camera has been swapped with some sort of high-tech weapon. Framed for treason, Matthew Carter must escape for his life, and at the same time uncover a conspiracy of global proportions.

Game Play

Carter doesn’t have any special weapons or training, so he must rely on his brain and use whatever commodities he can get his hands on. Making use of common items, Carter can make his own weapons, upgrades, and trap devices. These can range from gun silencers to explosives. Supplies are limited, so it’s a good idea to keep an eye on the inventory and decide what will be most useful. For instance, should you use your last plastic bottle on a gun silencer or a grenade? Finding blueprints will award the player with Tech Points, which can be used to open new possibilities for item construction. I found this whole aspect of the game to be very fun and rewarding. Although Cold War is a pretty formulaic point A-to-point B adventure, I was never bored once I got into the flow of the game. Sneaking up behind unsuspecting enemies and knocking them out hardly gets old, but when it does you can always get creative with your methods. If you can’t get close to an enemy, you might want to snap your fingers and lure him over to an ether mine, or use your slingshot to knock him out with a tranquilizer dart. When things get heated, though, it’s time to whip out the pistol or AK-47 you stole from the guards. There are many interesting weapons and gadgets in Cold War, but the most original is the camera. Looking through the camera lens will provide you with x-ray vision. Need to see who’s inside a room before entering? No problem. Everybody’s skeletons will show up brightly through the camera. In fact, you can even clear a room before entering. Just aim the camera towards your victim and he will be knocked unconscious in a flash.

Graphics

Cold War isn’t a visually impressive game. That being said, it’s average at best. Textures are rather blurry, and the lighting doesn’t come close to the brilliance we’ve seen in even the original Splinter Cell that was released years prior to this game. Perhaps the worst aspect of the game’s visuals is the cut-scenes after each level, in which semi-animated images are shown on the screen with overly dramatic lighting and shadows. They have kind of a cell-shaded look, but they hardly serve as eye candy.

Sound

The story of Cold War is surprisingly good, and it’s told through character interaction. Every character in the game has a voice, and plenty of lines to say. The acting is often weak, but the solid script makes up for it. Unfortunately, every minor (disposable) character you come across will share a common voice with all the others of their type, and they can be annoying. The things they say, however, do affect the game play. For instance, you may hear one guard say, “I need a cigarette.” This is your cue to drop a pack on the floor as a distraction. Music plays an important role in this game as well. Strings provide an ambience of intensity that will keep you on your toes. If you are spotted, or an enemy suspects you, the music will change appropriately to let you know if it’s time to hide or draw out your guns.

Stability

While I experienced no major glitches, I ran into a number of annoyances. On several occasions when being spotted by enemies, the game would freeze for a second and then skip ahead of the elapsed time. Unfortunately, I would usually find myself dead immediately afterward. Luckily, the game lets you save your exact progress anywhere and anytime you want, with as many backup files as you’d like.

Appropriateness

The violence you’ll be acting out in Cold War is purely a matter of self-defense. Killing civilians = game over. I don’t remember seeing any blood, except maybe a small red puff in the air when my character was hit by a bullet. There are many non-lethal ways to incapacitate enemies, but there comes a time when killing seems the only possible way. In a disturbing radio transmission, we hear a person’s last words while burning alive. PG-13 language is used quite a bit by some of the leading characters in the cinematics. I believe the Lord’s name was taken in vein once or twice as well.

Closing Comments

I didn’t expect much from Cold War, but it surprised me with some innovative ideas and a compelling story. You might like this game if you\'re a fan of games such as Splinter Cell. Just take heed of the coarse language and thematic violence.

Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse for the Xbox is, undeniably, one of the most unique games that a person could play. The biggest question raised by this somewhat odd and entertaining game is: How does it stack with the fundamentals of the Christian faith? Let\'s take a look, shall we?

Backstory

Just in case you couldn’t tell, in this game, you play the part of a zombie. Specifically, a zombie named Stubbs, who was an insurance salesman who was murdered in the 1930’s and buried in an unmarked grave in Punchbowl, Pennsylvania. When billionaire Andrew Monday decided to turn Punchbowl into a “city of the future”; in 1959, Stubbs woke up, and decided to try his hand at finding love -- and a few human brains to nibble along the way.

Gameplay

The gameplay is oddly enjoyable. It is a very different departure from most games, in which the player generally tries to send the un-dead zombies back into their graves. Instead of being a very strong, powerful, gun wielding Rambo-like figure, Stubbs is somewhat slow, stringy, and melee-focused individual. His attacks are easy to make, and there are an interesting variety of them. Stubbs can smack people around with his grubby mitts and eat their brains or rip people’s arms off and beat them to death with them. He can also use a flatulence attack to stun enemies who are surrounding him or throw one of his own internal organs as a grenade. He can even detach his hand and use it as a spy or a mind-control device. Finally, he can detach his head and use it like an explosive bowling ball. Each one of these attacks will turn Stubb’s victim into a zombie, ready and willing to aide Stubbs in his cause. The Zombies have an intelligent AI, but can get in the way in tight corridors. Though you can give them a shove in the right direction, sometimes they will surround you and limit your mobility in a hectic situation (such as a soldier’s rocket screeching towards Stubb’s head.) Speaking of AI, the enemies are appropriately intelligent and difficult on the four difficulty levels. They are easy, normal, difficult, and impossible. Each one has a unique and apt description: “Easy: The humans are almost as braindead as the zombies. A cakewalk.”, etc. There is a cooperative multiplayer mode, which adds to the game’s replay ability. The biggest flaw with the gameplay is that it easily becomes repetitive: smack human, eat brain, repeat. It is a fun diversion for a while, though, but don’t expect it to be a 20 hour epic that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Stubbs is best taken in doses. Gameplay rating: 18/20

Graphics

This is the section where things begin to get ugly. While the character models are spot on (the glowing cigarette dangling from Stubb’s lips is a nice touch,) the textures are a bit drab and repetitive, and vehicles (sans the tank) look rather plastic. The lips move when characters talk, which is good, but this feature is simply expected of games these days. The level design, as well, can be a little repetitive in places. The CGI movies help make up for this, though, as it’s presented in either a 1950’s film effect, or the graphics are slightly beefed up for the films. All in all, the graphics are pretty good, but not really remarkable. Graphics rating: 7/10

Sound

If there’s one thing that this game does flawlessly, it’s the sound. Where there is background music, it’s all done in period pieces such as “;Mr. Sandman,”; “;Lollypop,”; etc., or it has a soundtrack that might be found in a 1950’s drive-in theater movie. The sound effects are phenomenal, and the tongue-in-cheek humor of some of the humans is hilarious. Scientist will mutter as they see one of their comrades fall, “;Even I wouldn\'t do that...and I have no ethics!”; The dialog is wonderfully done in order to satirize what many people consider to be the “;good old days,”; and show that they weren\'t always the picture perfect places they were made out to be. The voice acting for the characters is spot-on. The zombies make their typical moanings of ”braaaaaiiiinnnnsss” but by far some of the most enjoyable dialog is from the barber-shop quartet security guards, as they state everything they’re doing or will do in song. All in all, an audio treat. Sound Grade: 10/10

Stability

I encountered no issues while playing this game. There were no obvious bugs or exploits. The one thing that I would have changed, however, is to make Stubbs a little faster, as it’s hard to catch a fleeing enemy, and when said enemy is holding a rocket launcher, bad things happen to Stubbs. Stability Grade: 5/5

Controls/Interface

The controls are very intuitive, and very reminiscent of Halo. The fact that the project was spear-headed by the ex-founder of Bungie, the studio that made Halo, has a lot to do with this. The biggest change came in that the developers had to assign special attacks to specific buttons, so while the left stick still controls movement and right controls viewpoint and A is to jump, they changed a good deal as well, but the controls are intuitive enough that the adaptation is easy. Control/Interface Grade: 5/5 That leaves an initial score of 45/50, but wait, it’s going to take quite a few knocks!

Violence

This one is difficult to gauge, as the main protagonist isn\'t human and the humans in the game are not trying to kill each other. (It is a city of the future, after all, where crime between people has disappeared.) However, considering the fact that Stubbs was, at one time, human, I\'m going to give it a -5 for \'People Killing People in Cold Blooded-murder,\' because there is quite a bit of brain-eating and arm-ripping going on. Violence score: -5 Blood Oh yes. Lots of it. Like the horror films it is vaguely based off of, it has copious amounts of blood, mainly human, and it sprays everywhere when a brain is eaten, an arm torn off, or basically any human death. Blood score: -2.5 Gore Again, difficult to determine. Though there are visibly detachable body parts (arm, head, guts,) it’s not anywhere near as graphic as a human sacrifice as found in the movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Therefore, I\'m going to give it a: Gore score: -1.5 Language The language factor was, surprisingly, not much of an issue. I heard some minor swear words, but nothing that a censor would have major headaches over. Language score: -3 Sexual Dialog/ Innuendo None. S.D./Innuendo score: 0 Sexual Content / Nudity The only character provocatively dressed is Mrs. Monday, Andrew Monday’s mother and Stubb’s key love interest. However, it is potentially provocative enough to warrant mention, and there fore gets a score of: Sexual Content / Nudity score: -1.5 Supernatural/Occult in Game Setting This category is the single most difficult one to score. There is no mention of the occult directly. There are no objects or images of an occult nature, even in the explanation of how Stubbs became a zombie. Since it falls between two key categories, I give it the following score: Supernatural Score: -1 Supernatural Forces used by Player Again, very difficult. The act of eating brains in the game is not seen as a pagan ritual or rite, just something natural that zombies do. It isn\'t really fairy tale magic, in that the content is too dark to be a fairy tale (modern one, at least,) but no actual magic is present, save the unexplained way Stubbs can regrow his hand, head, and organs. Since these things are unexplained, I\'ll categorize them as magic, but give it a different score: Supernatural Forces score: -1 Cultural/Moral/Ethical Issues This game does provide an environment of cultural rebellion, of a sort, as Stubbs creates his own society of zombies from living humans who accept him. However, it’s obviously not promoting rebellion on any level. Some may claim that the game promotes cannibalism, but I would disagree. The nature of zombies -- purely fictional beings -- is to eat brains. It is not the nature of humans to do so, and it’s obvious from the game that humans look on Stubb’s actions only with disgust. Cultural/Moral/Ethical score: 0 Gross humor The game is absolutely full of gross humor. One of Stubb’s attacks is farting in order to stun his enemies, and you actively control Stubbs as he urinates into a water purification center in order to contaminate people through the water main. There are also a few subtle crude jokes thrown in that come from the actions of some of the robots that have been implemented for mankind’s convenience. Gross humor score: -2.5 Decision making The only decisions you have are to eat brains and live and find the woman your love. It definitely breaks with traditional values in the regard that there is no sanctity of human life; people are just considered to be the next meal. Decision making score: -2.5 Appropriateness 20.5/50 Oh dear this leaves Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse with a mere 74.5% in all. Let me say this: the game is rated Mature for a reason. This game was never intended for children, but for adults who are able to handle the violence and gore, and who can understand the satire behind it. I would say be careful with this game if you are un-accustomed to violent and gory games, and if you have never seen a horror movie containing a zombie, you may want to watch one first to realize some of the subtle satire contained within. This is a fun and enjoyable game, but please remember it is not for younger audiences.

Final Score 75%

]]>ccgr@ccgr.org (Stewart Screpetis)XboxThu, 11 Jan 2007 12:00:00 -0600Ninja Gaiden Black (Xbox)http://christcenteredgamer.com/index.php/reviews/consoles/xbox/4822-ninja-gaiden-black
http://christcenteredgamer.com/index.php/reviews/consoles/xbox/4822-ninja-gaiden-blackNinja Gaiden isn’t just the best action game available for the Xbox, it’s one of the best action games ever created.

The original Ninja Gaiden made its debut for the Nintendo entertainment system in 1988. Since then, the Ninja Gaiden franchise has been very quiet over the years until Team Ninja announced that a sequel for Ninja Gaiden would be hitting the Xbox in 2004. For those wondering if Ninja Gaiden for the Xbox is better than the NES version, the answer is resounding YES. In fact, Ninja Gaiden is so impressive in the game play, graphics, and sound department. That if it were released several years from now, it would still be very impressive.

The story of Ninja Gaiden focuses on the ninja extraordinaire Ryu Hayabusa. His family’s village has been annihilated, and since Ryu is the vengeful type, he sets off to get his vengeance on those responsible. Over the course of the game, Ryu will meet many interesting enemies and allies. There’s a blacksmith named Muramusa who can upgrade Ryu’s weaponry. A fiend slayer named Rachel who just so happens to need rescuing from time to time, and Ayane who will offer you advice and directions throughout the course of the game. While the plot of Ninja Gaiden may seem like a simple revenge story, there are actually quite a few twists and turns that keep the story fresh and interesting without ever becoming tedious.

To say that Ninja Gaiden is strictly an action based affair would be wrong since a good portion of the game involves adventure elements. Throughout the course of Ninja Gaiden, you’ll constantly be upgrading your weapons and abilities. Ryu is also an amazing acrobat. He can run on walls, swing from tree tops, run on water, and much more. Each one of his abilities will come into play numerous times in Ninja Gaiden to solve the game’s various puzzles. And while the puzzles may not be very challenging, they do a good job of adding variety to the game.

While the adventure elements of Ninja Gaiden are enjoyable, the meat of the game play revolves around pure unadulterated action. Ryu has a wide variety of moves in which you’ll use to slice and dice enemies with. Each one looks different and visually pleasing to the eye. For instance, the move “Runaway Lightning” has Ryu leaping into the air, back flipping and striking the enemy in the same motion before landing gracefully back on the ground. Ryu is also a master of long range combat. You’ll have shurikens, bows, and spear guns all of which have their own uses, but make no mistake. The main focus here is blade on blade combat and blades there are! Throughout the game, you’ll find many different types of weapons with which to decapitate your enemies with. There’s a Dabilahro, which is a devastating 100 pound weapon capable of giving even the toughest enemy a serious headache, nunchakus which seem as if they’ve been ripped straight from a martial arts film, and many other weapons that all offer a sense of diversity.

While Ryu’s offensive capabilities are very impressive, it’s Ryu’s defensive prowess that will be saving your bacon more often than not. By simply tapping the left shoulder button, Ryu will shift to a defensive stance that will allow him to block almost all incoming attacks. It’s this combination of a balanced offense and defense that makes Ninja Gaiden’s combat so rewarding. That said Ninja Gaiden is far from an easy game. While Ryu is one lean mean killing machine, the enemies that you’ll square off against are fast, brutal, and merciless. Simply mashing buttons will get you nowhere in Ninja Gaiden, you’ll actively have to switch from offense to defense in the blink of an eye. One second too fast or slow will leave you dead. However, Ninja Gaiden never feels impossible. While you’ll constantly be outnumbered, you’ll never feel like the situation is hopeless since your abilities are so well honed.

Graphically, Ninja Gaiden is arguably the greatest looking game ever made. Everything just oozes a sense of polish from the sparks that fly when two blades meet, to the incredibly cool magic effects that will have you reaching for a pair of sunglasses to shield your eyes from the amazing particle effects. You’ll have an average of four to five enemies on screen at once in Ninja Gaiden and no matter how intense the action gets the framerate never drops below 60 FPS. The environments of Ninja Gaiden also look fantastic. The locations you journey to all look fresh and exciting, from military supply stations, to aqueducts, to even the underworld itself. It’s plain to see that an absurd amount of detail went into creating each and every one. Ninja Gaiden also boasts some of the most beautiful cut scenes ever witnessed in a video game. And at times, you’ll almost feel like you’re watching a movie. In fact, the cut scenes are so good that you’ll want to replay certain scenarios over just to view them one more time.

The audio of Ninja Gaiden is also first rate. From the slashing sounds of your sword connecting to an enemy’s torso, to the roar of machine gun fire as it whistles over your head. The soundtrack of Ninja Gaiden is also superb as it offers up a wide variety of distinctive sounds that only make the game play more exciting. If there is one minor complaint that can be leveled at the audio department of Ninja Gaiden, it’s that the voice acting can sound very cheesy in some parts. This is most apparent with Ryu, as his voice sounds the exact opposite of threatening. Thankfully, you can opt to listen to the original Japanese voiceovers with English subtitles.

Ninja Gaiden takes place over the course of 16 chapters, and although most of them contain excellent pacing, there are a few chapters that feel like they drag on longer than they should. The story mode will take around 20 hours to complete, which is above average considering how long most action games take to complete these days. And when you take into account just how sharp the game is, you’ll definitely want to replay it more than a few times. Throw in some neat unlockables such as the original Ninja Gaiden for the NES, alternate costumes, harder difficulty settings, and you’ve got yourself one value packed game that’s available for only $20 dollars.

Overall, Ninja Gaiden is unquestionably one of the greatest action adventure games ever made. Everything is pulled off so smoothly from the fluid gameplay, cutting edge graphics, and hard rocking soundtrack that it’s almost laughable. If you don’t own an Xbox, then Ninja Gaiden will more than justify the purchase.

Now, onto the objectionable stuff. You\'ll kill a lot of people/monsters in Ninja Gaiden Black. However, all of these encounters involve them attacking you first. The game is definitely bloody. But that\'s inevitable with a game that contains swords, nunchuks, and war hammers. Thankfully, whenever you dispatch an enemy, they instantly disappear. The heads of your foes will occasionally go flying. But that\'s it. There is no foul language whatsoever in the game.

One character in the game, Rachel, wears some very immodest clothing. Thankfully, she doesn\'t show up too often in the game and when she does, you can opt to skip the cut-scene if you like. There are some definite paganistic overtones in the game which was disappointing. But they were brief. In Ninja Gaiden Black, you can opt to use Ninpo. Which then allows Ryu to hurl fireballs, shoot electricity, etc at his foes. But there\'s nothing objectionable I found about about this portion of the game. You may be wondering why I\'m giving this game bonus points, but I assure you. My reasons are fully justified. Throughout the course of the game, several character make several selfless sacrifices to ensure the safety of others. I won\'t give away too much of the story, but suffice it to say. It was very refreshing to play a game in which the protagonists had a strong sense of morals.

Game Score: 9.8/10Content Score: 37/50

This game isn\'t perfect, but if you\'re a mature Christian who\'s looking for a fun, challenging action game for their Xbox. Look no further than Ninja Gaiden Black.

Reviewer Note: I am Dutch_Mix from Gamespot. This is, in a sense, my review I posted on Gamespot with the appropriateness factors figured in. Feedback would be awesome. ;)

Current Game Points-45/50

Several years have passed since the events of Riven. Atrus and his wife have moved to a small corner of Earth and you go there to visit them and journey to the world Atrus has made a link to. You arrive there to find that Atrus and his wife now have a daughter. As you wait for Atrus in his office you can\'t help but read the letter on his desk that reveals that an intruder. After reading the letter you walk over to the other side of the office where the Releeshahn book lays in its case. This book is the link between Earth and the world Atrus and you will venture to. Atrus arrives and gives you a journal he wrote while writing Releeshahn. As he locks up a few things you notice from the corner of your eye that a man has materialized out of thin air. He grabs a nearby light fixture and throws it into the curtain nearest to you. A fire starts and as your attention is diverted on the fire the man grabs Releeshahn from it\'s case Atrus yells out and a you turn back the man disappears with Releeshahn in his hand. But he leaves something behind, it\'s a linking book that will take you to where he has fled. The flames are growing steadily closer to the book, if you don’t act soon the book will be burned and so will all hopes of Releeshahn ever being visited again. You do the only thing you can do, you place your hand on the top right page of the open book and enter an entirely different world…

15/20-Game Play

The game really draws you in from the very beginning with an amazing opening that will lead you “running like a rat through a maze” as one of the characters puts it, for the rest of the game although I wouldn\'t say you could really run through the game as most of the puzzles require taking a step back to figure them out. It\\'s very creative how it implements the puzzles to be a believable part of the world and not just some fabricated thing for the purpose of giving you a puzzle to do. While most of the game can be progressed through by the average gamer almost everyone I\'ve come in contact with has said that the last puzzle was too hard and that they were expecting you to piece too much together it even stumped some of the hardcore fans. The rest of the puzzles are more straightforward and most of them are moderately hard to figure out. One problem I had is that one world was really hard to get around in because it was so confusing where you could and couldn\'t go or how you would have to go around something to get somewhere. I\'ve seen that acorn shaped plant before, but wait it didn\'t have that opening like the other one did, this must be a totally different place. It got very frustrating and took away from the game. The replay factor is moderately good as there are multiple endings although if you are like me you save at the critical decision parts of the game before proceeding. While there are multiple endings to the game some of them result in a message coming up saying you have failed. That really torqued me off as a fan because the original two just had the credits roll in any ending which made you feel more like you had made one of the many possible endings and not necessarily the wrong ending.

10/10-Graphics:

This game is jaw dropping gorgeous. It still looks stinking good now and it was released in 1999. All the characters are implemented in the game as real actors through blue screen and there are also several CG creatures throughout the game. The diversity of the worlds and textures are amazing. I don\'t think I ever came across the same texture twice. Except for the intro and ending all the in-game cut-scenes flow seamlessly with the game. The office sequence is just amazing visually for the time. The detail of the game is probably the most impressive thing about it. How many other games have several CG creatures that you can see the individual hairs and feathers of. There also aren\'t very many flat looking surfaces in the game; everything feels like it truly is in the third dimension.

10/10-Sound:

Jack Wall composed some excellent music that is hailed as one of the best scores for a video game ever. Each world has its own distinct style of music and it also has a more dramatic scale to it. The sound is very well done and the ambience is more complex that most games. But this game uses music and sound to draw you in more than anything.

5/5-Stability:

I\'ve never encountered any bugs at all and I\'ve played both the original version without the patch as well as the DVD version that has a patch with it that fixes the most common problems people had with the game. It ran fine for me on the several computers I played it on. Since it’s an older game a majority of the few bugs have been worked out.

5/5- Controls/Interface:

The controls are the simple point and click that made the first two games accessible to all ages. The hardest thing in the game to learn control wise is how to interact with object and you can easily learn how to do it, along with the rest of the controls, in the first few minutes of the game. It\'s all very intuitive and there really isn\\'t a need to even look at the control settings because it all just feels right. The menu is fairly simple and there are very few settings because the game is pre-rendered and requires little need for adjusting.

Content

- The story in this game delivers a good moral lesson. (The correct ending is that we should show mercy and love even to those who wish to harm others.) (+3 pts) - People killing people in cold-blooded murder (You can get clubbed to death at the end of the game. One of the alternate endings implies that you left a man for dead.) (-5 pts) - No Blood (-0 pts) - No Gore (-0 pts) - No Foul Language (-0 pts) - No sexual dialogue. (-0 pts) - No Nudity (-0 pts) - No Sexual Content (-0 pts) - There is no occult or supernatural environment in the game. (Some people may think the Linking Books are magic but the expanded universe defines it as a science.) (-0 pts) - There is no occult or supernatural in the game. (-0 pts) - No authority issues involved with this game. (Part of the game revolves around how the sons rebelled against the father. The sons are portrayed as being wicked in their rebellion.) (-0 pts) - No prejudicial bias in the game. (-0 pts) - No gross humor in the game. (-0 pts) - Good value decision making is required to progress in the game. (Part of the game is that in the end you are given a choice and you can do bad things but only a certain ending gives you the ending that is the right one. So you are given the choice but encouraged to make the correct one.) (-0 pts)

Story

Imagine an old Clint Eastwood spaghetti western, because that’s what the story feels like. In the 1800s a father is reunited with his wife and son, the three-month expedition for gold has been a success. He greets his family bearing gifts and the news of their wealth. All their problems would soon be over, they would never endure hardships again. The joyous reunion ends abruptly when renegades attack the homestead with a hail of bullets. The father and son’s fight is valiant, but in vain. The son is the only one left alive as carnage and fire engulf what was once his home. His father’s pistol lies in a bed of burning embers. Without thought he grabs the weapon and is overcome with intense pain. The pistol drops to the ground and he opens his hand to reveal the mark of the pistol grip…the scorpion is seared into his flesh. Many years later the son (Red) has grown up to be a bounty hunter, hunting down convicts for money. He is also searching the plains of the west for those responsible for his parents’ murder. (from the game manual) If anyone have seen Clint Eastwood’s movie ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales’ it has a very similar story. I personally think that this game might be a prequel to Clint’s legendary ‘Man with No Name’ trilogy.

Game Play 16/20

This is a third person shooter. You play most of the time as Red, the bounty hunter. The game play is very fun, kind of hard to get into though. As you progress through the game you unlock pages in Red’s journal, which access via the main menu. Seeing Red’s personal thoughts and information on wanted bounties is rewarding. Getting into quick draws is fun too, just like in the old west movies. Two characters face each other with their hands ready to draw. You have to work the controls to draw first and fire. The game play does become repetitive after a while though. The game has multiple difficulties just like most games, so it can be replayed.

Graphics 8/10

Graphics of clothing and environments are richly detailed and sometimes there are even dust storms that come through towns. The odd part is the faces. The faces look kind of like cartoons, and even though lips do move when characters talk, it sort of contorts their entire face. It is kind of weird to watch, but its okay.

Sound 10/10

Good voice acting and sound effects fill this western adventure. The background music honestly sounds like something out of Sergio Leone’s (his directed ‘The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly’) famous westerns. It’s very fun to listen to.

Stability 5/5

I never had the game freeze or crash on me.

Controls 3/5

The controls are odd in this game. You have to pull the left trigger to un-holster your weapon, and pull the right to fire. This can be very annoying towards the beginning of the game. Frustration galore when during a gunfight you pull the right trigger and nothing happens. You can catch on pretty quick though.

Appropriate?

This game is very violent and bloody. When you kill an enemy, blood sprays all over the ground and in the air (especially when you shoot an enemy in the head or neck). Thankfully the bodies disappear. The whole game revolves around a quest for revenge. One boss character that you fight is from the circus and uses a borderline magic potion to teleport all around the arena while you try to shoot him. During a bar fight sequence if you enter one of the rooms you will find two women, clearly naked, sharing a bathtub. Thankfully all the bubbles cover anything explicit, and oddly you can buy health from the women (I think the game designers added them in as a joke). Thankfully there is no bad language in this game and that is one relieving quality. This game was directed at mid to older teens and is definitely not for anyone younger than 14.

*You\'re Jack Carver, stranded on a remote tropical island. A legion of elite mercenaries equipped with a military stockpile is rapidly closing in. Outmanned and outgunned, your survival won\'t come easy. Only with skill, instincts and ingenuity can you conquer the enemy and make it out alive. *From IGN.com Far Cry Instincts is the second game in the Far Cry first person shooter series set on a tropical island that started on the PC and made it\'s way to Xbox. It kept the same basic gameplay aspects of the PC game but added new dimensions by giving Jack Carver (the user-controlled character) new powers called "Feral Instincts." Throughout the game, Jack will be able to run insane speeds, leap over caverns, track the scent of his enemies and terrorize the opposition with a deadly melee attack. All of these add up to one intense shooter with many twists and turns...

Game Play: 18/20

Right from the get-go, Far Cry Instincts pulls no punches in terms of game play. The first person shooter aspect is certainly well integrated into the tropical theme and even though the scenery looks light and calm, the game is anything but. The game begins with a cut scene of Jack Carver\'s boat being gunned down by a helicopter, you then swim to the island and begin training. You go through the basic button placement and movement training and continue on gradually to weapon training. The training commences in such a way that it advances the storyline while you learn to play. After training you begin to realize the intensity of the predator vs. prey-type of game play Far Cry Instincts sets up. You can move quietly through the dense jungle to avoid detection, you can set traps and lure your enemies towards them, and you can even roll onto your back to shoot your enemies through the floorboards of docks and cabins. As for the enemies, you will mainly be hunting down mercenaries set on the island to guard an experiment going on by a mad scientist who seems to be bent on filling the world with mutant creatures, some of which you will be fighting later on in the game. You will fight on the beach, in the jungle, in the dense rain forest (at night), in caves, in mines, research facilities etc... All of these add to the variety and drag you into the game. The targeting reticule is rather large, but adds to the arcade-feel of the shootouts, and don\'t worry, there are major shootouts. You are armed with the regular variety of weapons (pistols, assault rifles, sniper rifles, rocket launchers etc...) but they are all wonderfully detailed and have a great feel to them. The game also carries a hefty online/split-screen/system-link multiplayer portion that includes the usual deathmatch/capture the flag (or steal the sample in this case), but also includes a predator mode where one player is given all the predator powers and the opposing team must reach the other side of the map to activate a beacon. With the predator following their scent and unleashing brutal clawing attacks, it may be difficult, but it\'s definitely fun. It should also be noted that the game includes an extremely expansive map-maker program that allows the player to make a fully customizable map for all the multiplayer modes, this is absolutely incredible and the best map-making feature in an FPS I\'ve seen so far.

Graphics: 9/10

Some of the best the Xbox has to offer. The foliage is incredible and the water effects are nothing short of stunning. It brings a smile to my face to see the painstaking detail in every corner of the Far Cry Instincts island. For example: When you break the surface of the water, your eyes will still have water in them and the screen will appear blurry for a few seconds. It\'s in details like this that make the graphics truly spectacular. Although the graphics are astounding there are a few minor problems, most notably is the pop-in. For the first hour of the game I found it to be a little distracting, even irritating, but considering the scope and detail of this Xbox game, it is understandable. The framerate stays at a steady 30fps even in the heated battles. Another problem is the blood, which I also find a little distracting. The problem is that there\'s too much on bullet impact. When you shoot someone there\'s an explosion of clumped red balls that looks like the poor guy was shot with an artillery shell. It\'s just a little too much, but when you\'re shooting at more than one guy you don\'t stand around long enough to notice.

Sound: 10/10

No complaints here at all. The ambient sounds are incredible and add to the tropical "paradise" feel of the game. I have my Xbox hooked up to a 5.1 surround sound system so hearing the mercenaries talk a few feet away and brushing through the ferns and bushes sounds perfect. The gun sounds are great, but that\'s expected for an FPS of this quality. Also later on in the game you will encounter strange creatures which exude all the sounds that you\'d think a mutant creature would. One noteworthy area is the sound of feet walking across wooden planks. It sounds like a small facet of the sound category, but it is so realistic that it amazed me whenever I ran across docks or in island cabanas. Jack\'s heavy breathing while running was also very realistic.

Stability: 5/5

I have not encountered any bugs during my time with Far Cry Instincts. From the single-player story mode to the map-making feature, the game was completely bug-free.

Controls/Interface: 4/5

The controls were pretty spot-on for an FPS. One problem did have was controlling vehicles. Since you supposedly have one hand on the wheel (or handlebar) and your other hand is holding a gun, it\'s easy to go off center and start driving in a slightly different direction. It\'s also hard to shoot while you drive as I found the bullets warp to the right a little and never seem to hit my target properly even if the reticule is showing a hit. The menus and HUD were all perfectly accessible and the load times weren\'t as bad as some reviews made them out to be, though they did take you out from the action once in a while (a good thing maybe?).

Violence: 2/10

-Killing people in self-defense (-4) -Blood sprays on the walls and everywhere else (-2.5) -Body parts can be visually unattached (-1.5) OK, this is where it gets sketchy. This game is violent. Although you are killing these mercenaries and creatures in self-defense, it doesn\'t make it any less impacting. You hear the mercenaries screams as they are riddled with bullets and they\'re blood sprays (or kind of globs) into the air. Although the blood doesn\'t stay in normal combat, there are areas of the game in which creatures have just attacked small bands of mercs and there\'s blood everywhere. On their faces, on the ground, splattered on walls and rocks. Also during these times there are often legs detached and torsos spread over boulders with their mouths agape. Some of these scenes can be extremely graphic and disturbing even though you did not commit these violent acts yourself. Also with your melee attacks: At first you have a knife which you use to silently sneak up behind a merc and stab him in the back with extremely bloody results, and later on you have a brutal slash attack in which the merc goes flying while he lets loose a girlish scream also with bloody results.

Language: 5/10

-Swear words found in an R-rated movie are used in the game (-5) -God\'s name in vein is used throughout the game (-5) Why Ubisoft why?! This seems to be the growing trend in videogames lately, I\'d be hard-pressed to find a game of this calibur without a single curse in it. Unfortunately for Far Cry Instincts it\'s not a single curse, it\'s many. Jack drops the F-Bomb at least a dozen times throughout the course of the game and it\'s not only in cutscenes either, it\'s during firefights so you can\'t skip it. He mainly uses it if an alarm is set or his new feral instincts act up. All in all there are at least two dozen "F" words, a dozen "S" words, many uses of "G--D---" and a smattering of mild profanities. These are mainly said by Jack and random mercenaries who scream profanities during heated battles. (I could only take off 5 marks for those two categories, but I thought I needed to mention the misuses of God\'s name).

Sexual Content: 10/10

I can fortunately say that the game\'s saving grace in the appropriateness section is it\'s lack of sexual content. There is a woman in the game that Jack transported to the island and she appears to be wearing a bikini, but she is only seen briefly and there are no extreme details to make out (it looks like she\'s wearing an open jacket too that covers her body).

The occult/supernatural: 10/10

There appears to be no occultic and/or supernatural elements to this game. The mad scientists conducted experiments to create mutant creatures, so they are not demons or any magical beasts. The feral instincts are also just an experiment so they contain no magical significance.

Cultural/Moral/Ethical: 10/10

There are really no regular authority figures present to rebel against. The mercenaries are just that, mercenaries. They are all protecting a mad scientist and his experiments, and you are killing them in self-defense as you try to survive through this ordeal.

Overall 83%

I would highly recommend this intense first person shooter to mature players. The appropriateness score may be a little higher than, well, appropriate, but all in all it is an extremely well made shooter that is also extremely mature.

Story

Basically, the story is the same as the film. It begins as Batman enters the scarecrows lair, and is drugged with Crane\'s toxin. At this point, he flashes back to his training with the league of shadows. At this point, the story unfolds just like the film.

Game Play

This game is a whole lot of fun. If you are like me, and enjoy challenge and ease of game play, you will enjoy this a lot. The action is mostly stealth based, much like Tom Clancy\'s Splinter Cell. There are some situations where you have to use stealth, or you are shot to death, (I learned this a frustrating amount of times.) The fighting is great as well, relying on the sweet new moves shown in the film. You can punch or kick, much like any other game. However, sometimes the game promps you to hit (Y) which produces a context sensitive movement. For example, if enemies surround you, you hit the button, and it triggers a multi attack, in which Batman performs a jump/kick/spin attack, rendering all the enemies helpless for a couple seconds. There are various gadgets which can be used to great effect, but only at certain times and in certain areas. For example, you have the Batarang, a small, sharp blade in the shape of a bat. Most of the time, you can\\'t use it, however, if you see a circle over a rope or explosive barrels, you can throw it and trigger the response. I will tell you here and now, the game is highly cinematic, and that is either a great thing, or a terrible thing. I for one enjoy good movie licensed games, however, I know a great deal of gamers have nightmares about them. If you are one of those people, by all means, AVOID this game! If you enjoy this style like I do though, you will LOVE this.

Controls

The controls are all quite simple, you will have them learned in less than 30 minutes. If you play video games at all, I would not worry about these. Unlike the complex controls in Metroid Prime, this are very standard, and user friendly.

Graphics

This game is the bomb. The graphics are just phenomenal. The texturing is all done very well. You can see various textures in walls and pipes, cars, clothes, etc... Another highlight is the extremely advanced facial animation. I have never played a game with this much of a resemblance to the actors of a film, or a living being for that matter. This game greatly captures personalities, movements, and actions of the characters in the film. I found myself gawking at shiny floors more than once. You will not be disappointed with these graphics.

Sound

The in game sound is excellent. The music is not composed by James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer like in the film, but the game score is very good, and makes a fair replacement. In fact, the score is so integrated, that at times, a punch will be accentuated by an orchestral hit or a burst of brass. Music critics will not be too put off, even though the great film score is completely gone. The sound effects are also great. Explosions, gun fire, even trickling water, beautiful. The only major complaint with sound is in the cut scenes. They tend to crackle and pop occasionally, very strange, considering the quality of the game. The picture is also a bit fuzzy in the cut scenes, not sure what went wrong there... Good cut scenes though!

Appropriateness

-Language This is the biggest issue in this game. About every mild word is used in this game at least 3 or 4 times. The total tally is around 20 profane words, far to many for a video game, and much more than the fantastic film. -Violence This is not a major issue for me. If you enjoy Batman or any superhero, you will not be offended by this. The violence is completely bloodless, and the bodies disappear in a few seconds. However, if you are strongly offended by violence, this is not your game, as much of it relies on slamming thugs into floors and fighting constantly. -Other Issues Not many. The only things that may bother some players are references to drugs, (thugs and gangsters) and sometimes you see crates carrying them. There is a level where you bust one open, and a bunch of bags of powder fall out. If you are strongly against drug content (even portrayed negatively) I advise caution. Another issue is the tone of the game, it is very dark, and Arkham Assylum can get downright creepy. But hey, this is Batman!

Conclusion

This is one of the best games of 2005. The voice acting by, Christian Bale, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine is all great. If you loved the movie, and like a good stealth game, buy this, you won\'t regret it.

Back in September of 1975, the Starsky & Hutch TV pilot first aired. The show quickly became a success, and ran for 4 seasons. In recent years, attempts have been made to revive the classic in the form of DVD?s, a movie, and of course, a video game.

Gameplay

The game plays out like a pretty standard mission-based driving game - chase a car and shoot it before the time runs out. Occasionally there will be an escort mission or something else thrown at you to prevent the missions from feeling stale. While driving around, you will come across numerous floating icons, which will, if you drive through or shoot them, serve as power-ups, such as bursts of speed or new weapons. Some of these will also trigger an ?event.? Events can range from explosions, to the arrival of more cars that are out to get you. In any case, these are fun. Who doesn?t love explosions?

But of course these pyrotechnics are not only here to make you happy, but also to make the ?viewers? happy. Instead of having a typical health meter, you have a number at the top of the screen displaying the amount of viewers watching the show. Every time you blow something up, shoot an enemy, powerslide, or basically do anything that?s cool or dangerous, the viewer rating will go up. Doing something bad, like running into civilians, crashing, or shooting police, will cause the viewer rating to go down. If it gets down to zero, it?s game over. The problem I found with this is that it is sometimes hard to determine what you can and cannot run into. For instance, I could knock down a certain pole to increase viewer rating, but then I?d crash into another pole without being able to knock it down, making me lose points. This is irritating sometimes, and I still wish I could crash through more fences, but it doesn?t actually hurt the overall gameplay experience too bad.

Multiplayer mode is a good premise, but I can?t help thinking that there could have been more to it. Two players can play through any of the single-player levels, with one person doing all of the driving as Starsky, while the other does all of the shooting with Hutch. The cool thing about this is that the game supports a steering wheel and light gun to really capture the feeling of it all. Unfortunately, I don?t own either of these peripherals, so I wasn?t able to test this. The idea is great, but if you?re just playing with two controllers, it feels weak. It would have been nice to have some competitive multiplayer modes.

There?s also a lot to unlock in the game. Every mission has a secondary objective, as well as several hidden items scattered throughout the route, which will unlock new content. This content includes new cars, challenge modes, and even interviews with Antonio Fargas, the actor who played Huggy Bear in the TV show. Sadly, the interviews are chopped up, and come to an abrupt ending.

Graphics

Character models look rather blocky and lack detail when seen up close. These, of course, are not the main focus in the game, but it would be nice to see mouths move when they talk. Bay City in its entirety is yours to cruise through, and it?s a nice place, despite the insane crime rates. Flowing traffic and pedestrians fill the city, and the cars are shiny and smooth, showing damage when appropriate. Between levels, we are treated to comic book-like cutscenes, which progress through the story and set the stage for each following mission. I would have rather seen some clips from the TV show, but this works fine too.

Sound

The air is filled with the sounds of sirens, gunfire, and 70?s funk. Voice work is done well, and the character interaction helps to keep things lively. Unsurprisingly, they could have used a few more lines, but the repetition really isn?t too bad. Altogether, the sound does a great job of putting you in the atmosphere of the game. Plus, Huggy Bear does the narration for each episode.

Stability

I?ve only come across one glitch, which happened twice when I was closely following a bus. I would be ramming it, and then suddenly the bus would turn transparent and let my car pass through it like a ghost. This only happened on occasion, and it didn?t ruin the game or anything. Still, it shouldn?t happen.

Controls/Interface

The controls on a standard controller are simple and responsive. The game does support a steering wheel and light gun to further put you into the experience, which again, I was not able to try for myself. The menu interfaces are easy to navigate through, and they look clean and colorful. However, I found myself looking in the instruction booklet to find out what some of the icons guarding the unlockable content meant.

Appropriateness

In this game, you will be forced to shoot and/or run over people. However, most of the time, you will only be shooting at enemies? cars so you can arrest the people inside them. You are playing the role of two cops who will only be taking down bad guys. Hitting innocent people is punished, and the whole thing is basically just acting out a TV show, so I guess your characters are just actors pretending to shoot people. Starsky uses the ?D? word once in a while, and in one episode, Hutch?s girlfriend gets turned into meat if you fail. (This is never actually shown, mind you.)

Overall

If you?re a big Starsky & Hutch fan, you probably already have this game. If not, you shouldn?t immediately be scared away by the license. Once I gave the game a chance, I found it to be a lot of fun. And since it can be found for under $10, it shouldn?t hurt your budget too bad.